Dinnerware

Value for money

'A plate is a plate is a plate' is a typical attitude among consumers. How can and do - suppliers add value to their wares to distinguish one round ceramic platter from another? Susan Fenton gets some insight from manufacturers around the world
dding value to dinnerware - or, indeed, any product - is about a combination of factors that, taken together, make a product desirable above those of other brands in the consumer's eyes. That's the answer of Wedgwood, the UK's biggest tableware supplier, when asked how suppliers can add 'value' to dinnerware.

the Paul Costetloe vase, whose wide lip was "a technical challenge that no other company could achieve in the manner we did - attempting this kind of effect can lead to problems because the lip is so heavy it could collapse before it was fired." The mix of history and modern production techniques, said Campell, provides "a certain kudos-an ethos of quality-and a heightened brand value. Of the factors highlighted by Wedgwood, 'design' was the answer given most often by fellow suppliers around the world when we asked how it is possible to 'add value' to dinnerware. 'Design', of course, is a very broad field and for the suppliers we spoke to it covered everything from the practical (the use of texture or precious metals or shape) to the conceptual (approaching the creation of a range with a view to creating 'luxury' or some other lifestyle). Lasantha Amarakoon at Sri Lankan supplier Dankotuwa said: "Value is about both technical aspects - you have to start with high quality raw materials - and emotional aspects, the incorporation of human creativity. Craftsmanship and design skills are important - by using western designers it helps us develop a brand that has a rapport in the international markets." The use of 'designer names' was also mentioned by Maria Joao Ribeiro of Portugal's Porcel. "You need something that will associate your brand in the consumer's mind with 'design'. This can be achieved through the use of decorative techniques like texture or the use of precious metals, or through the use of designer'names' who can capture the trends." In Hong Kong, Lynns Concepts' Denise Wong said decorative techniques, in particular handpainting, could add value, especially as consumers did not often associate hand-work with Chinese-made products. "People often don't believe that a Chinamade ceramic product can be hand-painted. You can achieve much more with painting than with decals and it is perceived to give a product a unique appearance. For this reason

Durability, quality, good design, packaging, brand perception and even the retail environment are all part of the package, said people and brands director Mike Campell. "Adding value is not simply about us adding value to dinnerware, it's ultimately about the dinnerware adding value to the meal that's served on it. The plate should add style to a dining occasion, inspiring the consumer to create fabulous food. If you are making a great meal you want a great plate to eat it off. A cheap or poorly made plate adds nothing to the overall eating experience." To achieve this aim, he said, design is vital in adding beauty to the inherent functionality of tableware. "The product is a blank canvas, on which the designer can create something that will appeal to varying consumer tastes." By using well-known designers from other fields (including Jasper Conran, Paul Costelloe, Kelly Hoppen to name a few) alongside the inhouse team, the company aims to create a perception as a forward-thinking, design-led brand. But product design alone is not enough, said Campbell. Packaging is also a vital part of creating a perception of value. "As much effort has to go into presenting the product as it does into creating the product itself." Similarly, the retail environment, too, adds its own value to the dinnerware. "How a product is displayed and merchandised makes a big difference to whether the product looks its best. A dingy shop environment adds no value to a product - the experience of retail needs to be in keeping with the whole brand offering." All these factors go into creating a brand, which is a hugely important concept for Wedgwood, to the extent of it having a dedicated brand director. Campbell says: "We are lucky to have a 25O-year long history of hand-crafting and a long-established perception of being a prestige supplier of British-made products. This is combined with modern technology, which has allowed us to push manufacturing techniques to the limit to create hard-to-manufacture-and thus unique - items." He cites as an example

The hard-to-make Paul Costelloe vase from Wedgwood - creating unique items adds to the brand value, says the company

The use of texture and precious metals can add interest to dinnerware, says Porcel, which has made use of both techniques in this range

we have seen a decline in the use of decals, as consumers go for a more natural look, including handpainting, the use of solid colours or the use of terracotta or glazing techniques." High-quality glazes were also mentioned by Manami Wada at Mizunami, which uses these techniques to make its oriental-style dinnerware. "The focus is on design. We pride ourselves on diversity of colours, high quality glazes and an unusual design - the Japanese style is very popular not just in Europe but also in the USA and Russia."

ducers. The solution for some has been actually in effect to put prices up, as they could not beat the Chinese if trying to lower prices. As Young-Mok Kim, managing director of Hankook in Korea, pointed out: "The growing quality of Chinese-made goods means that price is no longer the prime attraction of many Ray Windsor of Topchoice says: "Packaging helps add value to a tableware offering by turning it into a gift offering"

big producers, even if they consider their pricing to be reasonable." His answer has been to create a luxury brand, Prouna. "Creating a brand is the only way to keep competing in an overcrowded market for mass-market producers. To set ourselves apart in this huge market you need a brand -2 Lynns Concepts' Denise Wong says: "You can achieve much more with painting than with decals"

"The Japanese style is very popular not just in Europe but also in the USA and Russia"
Shape is also important, said Aric Chang at Inhesion. "Ranges need to have their own distinct personality and shape is the main thing that distinguishes one plate from another. Squares and triangles have been tried. We're now trying a new range that is eye-shaped it's harder to make so it's more costly but the competition is so tough that you have to rise to a challenge and try to make something that no-one else does." Getting the right price-point was also mentioned by suppliers, with competition from the Chinese, whose quality is no longer considered to be poor, an issue for mass-market proManami Wada of Mizunami says: "We pride ourselves on diversity of colours, high quality glazes and an unusual design" Maria Joao Ribeiro of Porcel says: "You need something that will associate your brand in the consumer's mind with design"

Dinnerware
Chinese-made product selling at lower prices." The most unusual answer came from Simon Carrel, managing director of Australian Fine China, who said that looking at trends in restaurants could help suppliers of retail products to add value. "The fundamental problem with this industry is that everyone's always trying to come up with something more attractive. How do you add value when people who will spend $400 on a meal - something that passes through their system in 24 hours - won't spend $100 on dinnerware? It's a total nonsense. It's very difficult to persuade people to pay a premium if it does the job then why buy something more expensive?" The way forward, he said, was to talk to chefs and develop dinnerware through the hospitality side." People are influenced by what they eat off in restaurants even though they don't go out to admire the crockery. This is particularly so with Handpainting adds perceived value, especially when the product is Chinese-made and the consumer is not expecting it to be hand-crafted, according to Lynns Concepts < Price can be its own added value, said Ray Windsor, UK distributor of Top Choice. " If a product is a great piece of ceramic with a good design, and if it's a better price than anything comparable in the market, that's added value. For this reason we position our prices as lower than the equivalent product made in the UK, though there is an awful lot of cutlery, where people are prepared to spend money because they have touched it when eating-there is a haptic quality about it. "There will be less distinction between catering and retail ware as the industry cottons on to this."

Well-packaged

Packaging also has a big advantage for the retailer, said Windsor. "When consumers buy open stock they won't buy what you'd like them to buy - they might buy up all the cups and none of the casserole dishes, which means having to hold a lot of stock. But you don't get this problem with boxed sets." The company's offerings include mugs pre"Packaging sented in tins, and two-cup and saucer sets in boxes. Its new Entertain range, featuring products for parties such as nibbles trays, comes in boxes. "Every market wants added value, but tastes differ so how you do it will differ. The options are endless: you can package items

individually or as a set, and you can package other items with tableware, for instance there's no reason why you couldn't add sweets or some kind of food, thus turning the product into yet another product." Denise Wong at Lynns Concepts agreed that gift boxing can create a higher perceived value. "We've had some positive feedback from retailers about our boxes. They turn standard items into gifts. There is a higher perceived value for gift items like four teaplates in a round pretty box tied with a ribbon, especially as it's quite hard to make the box, so we can charge a higher price."

t's not so much the product itself that has the 'value' - it's more the box it comes in, according to several observers. Packaging can make the product appear

more attractive and can turn it from dinnerware into a gift, which can then command higher prices. Inhesion's Aric Chang said: helps take it from a daily use product to a gift: it adds elegance and value without adding a lot of retail price. A plate, and a plate in a gift box, are different things - you see them in a differ-

ent way."
But, he warned, the traditional standard boxed sets were not the way forward. More imagination was needed to package products in an appealing way. "Everyone used to be happy with standard boxed sets because they were doing good business with them but that policy can't be relied on anymore. People are more likely to buy an individual boxed gift because it grabs the imagination." At Top Choice, Ray Windsor said: " Packaging helps add value to a tableware offering by turning it into a gift offering. Anything can be a gift if it's packaged and presented as such. If a consumer says 'what a lovely box' it means you can command a higher price for it."

Packaging can turn tableware into a gift, as Inhesion shows here